the romney campaign today said he did not mean what he said about half the energy companies supported by the obama administration going bankrupt. he didn't actually mean that. sort of rolled over from democratic and liberal bewilderment last night that mr. romney was abandoning his main economic plan that he was running on, his $5 trillion tax cut plan, his big trickle-down plan, to be rolled over from democrats being bewildered about that to the beltway press and mainstream pundits i think now having a hard time deciding whether they are supposed to call that a lie or whether they're supposed to just say this is a radically new position for the candidate and welcome to it. joining us now, jonathan alter, columnist for "bloomberg news" and msnbc political analyst. mr. alter, great to have you here. >> hi, rachel. >> how does president obama counter the strategy of mitt romney's to unveil whole new ideas or deny he ever held the ideas that he plainly has held? it's one thing to have a truth squad fact checking online. how do you counter that at the podium? >> one is i'm rubber, you're